


SavageSkyeHaidSukoWildeHopps (FFoZ S1E18)

by J_Shute



Series: The Fantastic Foxes of Zootopia [21]
Category: Zootopia (2016), アグレッシブ烈子 | Aggressive Retsuko | Aggretsuko (Anime)
Genre: Comedy, Dancing and Singing, Dating, Drama, Drama & Romance, Embedded Audio, Embedded Images, Farce, Friends being friends and having fun, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Funny, Hanging Out, Hangover, Inspired by Music, Karaoke, Multi, Music, Mystery, Racing, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Singing, Theatre, Winter Sports, such fun!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23525818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Shute/pseuds/J_Shute
Summary: Police officers Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. Accountants Retsuko and Haida. Theater mammal Jack Savage and mechanic Skye Autumn. Together they set off on a triple date, a frenzy of romance and fun that will take them all across the big city of Zootopia, having laughs and joy wherever they go.But maybe the biggest laughs and drama are left for the morning after?(Part of a long running season, but a primer is given so you can enjoy it without any previous reading or catching up)
Relationships: Haida/Retsuko (Aggressive Retsuko), Jack Savage/Skye, Judy Hopps/Nick Wilde
Series: The Fantastic Foxes of Zootopia [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1086153
Comments: 16
Kudos: 13





	SavageSkyeHaidSukoWildeHopps (FFoZ S1E18)

**Author's Note:**

> AN: For all new readers just starting out, here's the MO. My main series, 'Fantastic Foxes of Zootopia', is a mega crossover built by bringing Fantastic Mr Fox and Aggretsuko into the Zootopia universe. It's episodic in nature, with different plotlines and characters, a number of which have built up to this oneshot, where the three main romantic couples go out together.
> 
> Don't worry. While this oneshot is well into the main story, it can largely be read by itself. For those looking to do a limited readthrough to prime themselves up, here are the most relevant/ important episodes leading up to this moment.
> 
> Acting out (episode 1)
> 
> Aggretopia (episode 4)
> 
> Spanners and Stripes (episode 5)
> 
> So we're inters now (episode 9)
> 
> MOM(S) (episode 12)
> 
> Skye's Fall (episode 14).
> 
> .
> 
> For those looking for a quick context recap:
> 
> After doing some undercover missions with Ookami (from Aggretsuko) as a helper providing cover, Nick (from Zootopia) has a moment of self-doubt/crisis. Judy (Zootopia) takes him to meet old friend Jack Savage (a striped jackrabbit), an eccentric but otherwise lazy actor who works at Moon's theatre (from Sing.) An accident breaks the stage set, so Nick ropes in an old not-a-friend, Skye (a swift fox mechanic), who'll repair it.
> 
> Meanwhile Retsuko decides to ask Haida out. On the same day, she discovers a tax anomaly in a customer account and, after hearing from Ookami about working with Nick, decides to pursue it, giving her a confidence boost and interest in becoming a tax detective while also torpedoing the company responsible (owned by Mr Big's mafia (from Zootopia, which Judy has a connection to after saving his daughter in the movie), sinking him.)
> 
> Haida also discovers an unusual plushie very similar to his likeness (a running gag in the series).
> 
> Skye and Jack talk themselves into a date. Skye is initially unsure but, at an inter-species couple meetup, they meet Haida and Retsuko who encourage her to go on. H and R are interested in meeting Nick and Judy, Skye remarking that Nick seems to have changed for the better since she last knew him.
> 
> Nick and Judy start going out together too, different couples meet the other's parents, stuff goes on.
> 
> Skye has an accident that breaks her ankle. Initially resistant to help, she gets trapped in her garage's maintenance pit for a few days before being saved by Jack. The two become really close, Skye resolving to be more accepting of others' help and Jack resolving to be less lazy.
> 
> Nick and Skye make up, the couples decide to do the triple date, part of which will involve watching the dress rehearsal for Jack's upcoming masterpiece.
> 
> .
> 
> You all got that?
> 
> (Nods, turns back to regular readers)
> 
> .
> 
> And so, here we stand.
> 
> It's what I've tortuously dangled in front of you all this time.
> 
> Well, today is the day it all pays off. Today is the day you get a 17K oneshot with just one thing on its mind. Also popping up (on the A03 version at least) are not one, but two new pieces of art (and maybe some old ones too). The first by the fantastically fab Jaff96, the second by the amazingly awesome Zeigelzieg. They'll be in the text of the A03 version for all those interested. Songs may also be sung during this oneshot, so I've slipped in in-text links into the A03 version, with a complete list at the end.
> 
> Anyway, enough with the chit-chat.
> 
> Triple date time!
> 
> .
> 
> SavageSkyeHaidSukoWildeHopps
> 
> .
> 
> .
> 
> .

* * *

.

.

.

Fluffy…

.

"Fluffy Carrots," Nick whispered, as he pushed himself forward, further underneath the thick blanket and into the soft warm fur beneath him. There was a slight move back, a deep rumble and a shift, and the fox held on tighter. He sniffed a few times, mainly getting the fuzzy smell of some catnip, not that he minded. Shifting a bit, his head peeked out the other end, a grumble inducing ache flashing through it.

"Waking up after a hangover," he muttered. " _Aaaaand_ I can't remember last night. Now, why does this sound familiar?"

…

"You know what, I don't care" he whispered, his eyelids fluttering open a little before closing from the assaulting light. Nocturnal eyes, hangover, and he'd been a dumb fox and left the curtains open. Typical. If anything, that last one was the most annoying thing right now. Heck, he didn't really care that he remembered nothing of last night! Instead, he just wanted to snuggle up to _his_ Carrots, nice and warm. Moving forwards, his lips graced over hers and made out the hard edges of her teeth.

Doing a ':B' are we, he thought, smiling at the mental image. He stretched up and gave a soft peck there. He smiled some more as he felt his love shift and move beneath him, a paw coming around him and pulling him up closer, her giant mouth enveloping his and…

…

Giant mouth, Nick thought, before slowly realising that pretty much everything about her was giant. Something made clearer as a giant padded paw swept down his head and stroked his spine. Another sucking kiss from 'her', not that he was actively putting in any effort anymore, and he noticed that her ':B' was upside down… and sharper… and had three teeth. It wasn't a ':B' at all… It was a ':3'! It was also well to the side. A paw touched the back of Nick's head, smushing his nose into the soft fur that most certainly didn't smell of any bunny, yet alone his, while another pulled up his tail and stroked up through it. The alarming action shocked Nick's eyes open, and he stared into the face of a massive hyena.

"Your tail is so fluffy, Retsy," he whispered, breaking off the kiss as his eyes fluttered open.

…

"Huuuhhhhhyuyuuyu…." he began stammering, shaking from the nerves. "Uh… -Nick?"

The fox just slipped forwards, planting a finger on Haida's mouth. "Shhh… Let's keep this between just you and me, big boy."

Haida, his eyes still trembling, nodded as he slipped out from under Nick. The fox noticed that they'd been on the sofa, a thick blanket over both of them, though now that both were sitting up the hyena was using it to mark a very, very, very large distance between the two of them.

"You okay?" Nick asked.

Haida thought for a moment, raising a palm up between them before standing up, his ears and crown brushing against the fox scaled ceiling. Nick watched him walk out, ducking down to fit through the door before turning to go into the bathroom, the fox preemptively plugging his ears.

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" he screamed, before being joined by someone else.

"ARGHHHHHHHH!"

"ARGHHHHH!" _BANG…_ "OWWW… -WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!"

"I WAS SHOWERING!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU LOCK THE DOOR?"

"THERE ISN'T A LOCK!"

"WHY NOT?"

"ASK MY BOYFRIEND!"

Flinching down a little from his aching head, Nick watched as Haida, slouching down so he could rub his, stepped out. "I'm not feeling better, in case you were wondering," he muttered, before groaning as he clutched his head.

Nick shrugged, before a new sound broke through. "Oh no, oh nonononono…" Pausing, the pair listened to a nervous Judy speaking out. "G-guys," she whispered, stepping out and clutching her necklace hard. "Please tell me you have an explanation for this that doesn't have me and vodka in it." Both Nick and Haida stepped back as the meek bunny slid out a traffic cone.

Nick let a smug grin grow on his muzzle. "You know it's not a good night if you don't bring home a traffic cone."

"Not funny!" she groaned.

"Is there a story behind…" Haida began, only to be cut off as Judy marched up to him, paws on hips and nose a-twitching. "Oh. Okay then," he said, looking around. "Where's everyone else?"

"Given that none of us have work today, bed?" Nick suggested, as he slipped off the sofa. Moving over and opening a drawer, he grumbled as he found no catnip. "I mean, if this isn't what it's for…"

There was a rattling from behind them as an underwear clad Skye, holding the door frame with her paws for balance, emerged from Nick's bedroom, sans crutches. "Have you seen my…"

Three heads shook back at her and she facepawed, unfortunately forgetting that she only had the use of one leg.

"Yaaaahhhhh!" she yelped, thudding onto the floor. "A little help please?"

Haida rushed over and picked her up like a baby, her ears going back a little from embarrassment. "There you go," he said, before wincing. "Arghhh, why does my paw hurt?"

"I don't know," she began, before looking at the sofa. "If you put me there…"

"Right," he noted, planting her down. As she wrapped herself with the blanket, all eyes turned to Haida's right paw, his knuckles and fingers all cut up. "Did I actually punch someone?"

"If that someone was a pebble-dashed wall, maybe," Nick replied.

Haida nodded, before turning to Skye. "Just a sec. Were you asking about your clothes or crutches?"

"Let's make it both," she muttered.

"I think your clothes were in the bathroom," Judy said, before pausing. She walked up to Skye, an odd look on her face, as if she were half mad and half confused.

"Judy?"

The bunny paused, before shaking her head. "I don't know why, but I feel angry at you… -Did you do anything with a traffic cone last night?"

"No, I…" she began, before her eyes went wide. "I remember us getting back here and Nick using the last of his catnip before joking about sleeping with Haida and his fuzzy wuzzy tail instead of you, you joking about sleeping with me in return… And then us doing that…"

"Why would we…?" the hyena pondered.

"We were drunk," Judy snarked.

"Oh, right… That does make sense."

She nodded and then turned to Nick, her head tilting in curiosity. "It might also explain why I think you did something terrible."

"Huh?" The fox pondered, before his ears and tail sunk. "I now feel like I did something awful, but I don't know what."

"Something to do with crutches? Also, could one of you get my clothes, _please?_ " Skye asked, in a tone that made it seem like she was a whiskers thickness away from giving in and trotting out on all fours to do it herself.

Judy nodded and headed off, while Haida and Nick looked around. The hyena, with his room filling height, was able to look on the top of cupboards and the fridge, while Nick kept closer to the floor. Judy emerged back in, depositing Skye's clothes before blinking. "Sixty-eight, one-six-zero-six," she muttered, all eyes turning to here. "I don't know why, but I remember that."

"Unfortunately, we don't have a safe to open that may or may not have all our memories in it," Nick commented, as he opened the door to his balcony and looked out. "So, unless that was your jail number while in the drunk tank, it means we're no further to uncovering the embarrassing exploits of an inebriated bun-bun."

"You know you probably did far, far worse," Judy snarked.

"Oh, I have a feeling that I did do something bad," Nick sighed, coming back in. "But if you want something funny, you can always count on a bunny."

Judy's nose twitched a few times, before leaning forwards, paws on her hips. "Maybe I did do something, but that's about it for our group's bunny funnies…"

They were broken off as the door to the spare bedroom opened up and Jack, dressed up in Judy's now undersized fox onesie, stepped out. He rubbed his eyes, looked around, and smiled. "Hang on… we're actually doing a hangover amnesia thing in real life. This is so cliché and I love it!"

The other four were a lot less convinced, but didn't get to respond as another mammal called out.

" _SHUT UPPPP…. MY HEAD HURTS…_ "

Jack flinched back, groaning. "Yikes! that's a scary feeling," he muttered, shivering as all five peered back into the room. They all saw Retsuko, burritoed up in a blanket, grumbling on the bed. They also noticed a pillow fort that had been built out of Nick's spare bedding, a few chairs, and two incriminatingly familiar pole-like objects.

.

.

 _Ten minutes later_.

.

.

Retsuko mumbled as she looked over the packet of medicine. All across it, the number 128 was marked out in red letters. Her medicine at home was marked in orange, and had 32 on it. Given her size, her standard dose of paracetamol was three of those tablets every four hours. Only now, given that she was much using larger sized tablets, the smallest one was higher than her regular dose. Given that she already _had_ a nasty headache, she was not liking the new one she was getting.

There was a tap on her side as Judy came up. "Just have one," she said, the red panda sighing and doing just that. Together, they then sat down. Chairs and sofas had been brought out to form a ring: Skye snuggled up with Jack snuggled into her, Retsuko sitting next to Haida, Nick on a chair and nervously filtering through his phone, and Judy stepping up to a whiteboard. With the exception of Jack, still clad in the undersized fox onesie, they were all dressed up in what they'd worn the night before. Skye had a dusty blue top and, unusually for her, a tartan skirt, chosen due to the need to get it past her cast; Retusko was in a smart white blouse and white-brown plaid skirt; Haida had his black jeans, bikers jacket and red-black striped shirt on; Nick was in his classic pawaian shirt, tie and slacks combo, along with a dashing crimson blazer. Finally, Judy had put on a casual blue T-shirt and a pair of skinny black jeans.

"Okay," she said, "We all have today off, which is good. We're here to work out why we're here, _and_ what we did last night. Now, being a police officer, this involves making a timeline and plotting the events that took place."

"Hmmm," Retsuko mused, "this is actually interesting."

"Yeah," Haida added, before chuckling. "Practice in case we do become detectives."

Judy paused, smiling proudly. "Now, we have clues and we have mysteries…"

"-Like my paw!" Haida said, holding it up.

"Right," Judy agreed, writing it down. "Then there's why I felt hostile to Skye, why we have that traffic cone, what may have happened with that traffic cone, what '68-1606' is and what bad thing Slick here did… Anything else?"

Jack raised his paw. "I shiver when I see Retsuko now. Why?"

"Okay," Judy said, putting it down. "Anything else?"

Nick paused, looking up from his phone, his head cocking slightly. "Judy… Where did you get that whiteboard from?"

The bunny paused, looking back at the board for a second or two before writing _'this thing'_ up in a corner. "Okay," she said, tapping her foot a little. "Before we start, any clues?"

"Well," Nick muttered, "I've been receiving worrying feedback from a certain mammal on my phone: ' _Heck, you finally did a useful thing, ex-bud!; Boyo, you're sure missing out here; Your bunnycop ain't half dis good; I think you're back to bein' a regular bud, ex-partner; No backsies, you hear!"_

"Does it mention anything about a traffic cone?" Judy asked.

"No."

"What about social media?"

"Oooh," Retsuko said, getting out her phone. "I can search Instagrowl. And if I can't find anything, I know someone who definitely can…" She trailed off, looking at her phone, while Haida peered over.

"Huh…"

"What is it?" Skye asked.

"That someone has been texting back too."

"Yeah," Haida noted, scratching his head. "It seems Fenneko…"

He was cut off by a loud clatter as Nick dropped his phone, everyone turning to face the suddenly distraught fox. "Oh god, I remember… What have I done!?"

.

.

* * *

.

.

"So, you're telling me her name is Fenneko, right?" Nick asked, leaning over, beer in paw.

Haida and Retsuko nodded, the former picking up his mug of beer from the worn wooden table. "Yup," the latter added, smiling. An orange glow covered them all as they bunched up together in the cosy space, filled with the loud sounds of thickly built mammals, more often than not in cold weather gear.

"Now what is it…" Nick slurred, pausing as Jack returned with some food. "-What is it with fennecs and using their species name as their first name? I mean, hold up..." He paused as he opened up his phone. "Now I used to work with this goofy little stinker here. Guess what his name is?"

"Frednick?" Haida asked.

"No?"

"Fenrick?" Retsuko guessed.

"I think that's his estranged brother, who I think works at a halal butchers, like the rest of his estranged family… They went very different ways in life. No, this little infidel here has a much worse name."

"Fennick?" Haida asked

"His parents weren't that cruel."

"Finnick?" Jack suggested.

"Yes!" Nick cheered, holding the bunny's paw. "Well done, Stripes!"

The jackrabbit looked on proudly, hamming it up. "I think you'll find it was a mere matter of logical deduction and reasoning, but thank you nonetheless dear friend… Also, he's _so_ tiny!"

"Ooooh… Don't say that to his face if you value yours," Nick warned.

The jackrabbit nodded, while Haida leant over. "You know, I think I've seen him before…"

"Probably," Nick agreed, taking a swig of his drink. "Stalking bars, looking for a mythical lady friend to warm the back of his van."

"Yeah, they're solitary mammals, I don't think Fenneko has anyone in her life either," the hyena noted.

Nick nodded, before his eyes widened. "Hang on a sec, I have a brilliant idea."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"I set up Finnick with Fenneko! And it worked!"

Silence filled the room, as everyone looked at the shame clad fox cop.

"Heh," Haida noted, turning to Judy. "You can strike that one off the list.

"Guys, you're not taking this seriously."

Retsuko looked up from her phone, turning it around. "Well, two mammals are."

Nick leaned over to look at it, as his eyes widened with horror. "And that's a double fennec profile pic…"

.

.

He sat up and shrugged, baring his arm. "You can insert punches here."

"No need," Jack said, "I remember what happened next."

"So do I," Skye agreed, as did everyone else bar the red fox.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Hey, guess what!" Nick said, interrupting Skye as she and Judy returned to the table. "I set up Finnick with their friend Fenneko."

There was a brief pause, before Judy scowled and punched him on the arm.

"Heyyy!" He whined, rubbing it. "That was… actual genuine fox abuse. What gives Carrots?"

"You just set up someone with Finnick."

"Hey, it's not like…" he began, before freezing with horror. "Sweet Mother Marian, I just set up Fenneko with Finnick."

"Hey, no worries," Retsuko began, only to be cut off as Nick stood up and punched himself on the arm.

_._

_._

* * *

_._

_._

"Okay, I remember that now," Nick said, as Judy came up to him, her ears drooping and her head lowered in shame.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Uhhh, what for?"

"For hitting you, you dumb fox."

"Fluff, do we need to go over this again, I…"

"I forgive you," she said, planting a finger on his lip. "And, in return, you can forgive yourself."

Nick paused for a second or two, before taking a deep breath in. "Okay, it'll be hard, I'll be living with this for the rest of my life, but I'll try."

"Good fox," she said, ticking the relevant mystery off this list. "I mean, it's not that bad. I mean, it's no Hatchikoshima."

…

"Why do you say that?" Skye asked, her head cocking a little. After all, saying something wasn't as bad as the atomic bombing of a city didn't really serve much of a purpose.

Judy frowned, before heading back to the board and adding 'Hatchikoshima' to the list. "Right," she said, turning back around. "Let's start from the beginning."

Everyone nodded as Skye spoke. "Well, we all remember the initial meet up right. We don't need to go through all the 'oh hello's' and emotional gushing again, do we?"

"I think everyone can guess how a bunch of hello's went," Jack added, shrugging. "We can cut it."

"Right," Judy agreed, before pausing. "Though we might as well go through an abridged version, just to recap."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Hey you two, you're looking good" Judy said, coming up and waving to Skye and Jack. "We also have tomorrow off, due to our shift rotation, so tonight can be a big night."

"Hey you two, you're looking good," they replied. "We're both self-employed, and have nothing on tomorrow. Big night time."

"Oh my god," came a new voice, the bunny looking over to see a red panda hop up to her. "I finally get to meet you!"

"Hey, you must be Retsuko. Hi there. You look good."

"Yes I am. Hello, you look good. Also, my boyfriend and I are using up a holiday and have tomorrow off. We can have a really big night."

"Hi there," Haida added, as Nick came up.

"Hello," he said, looking down at Retsuko before looking up again. "Heh… Hello."

"Heh, what was that laugh for?"

"Oh, no reason…"

_._

_._

* * *

_._

_._

Collectively, five faces turned to look at a certain fox. A frown on his face as he looked at his injured paw, Haida spoke out. "I think there is a reason."

Nick shrugged. "We'll probably get to it."

"Yes," Jack yawned, as Judy wrote 'Nick's laugh' up on the board, next to 'Haida's paw'. "Once we get past all this filler and onto the actual stuff."

There was a finger click from the side as Retsuko stood up. "I remember what happened next, and it might help."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Wait, Ookami?" Nick asked.

"Yes, a big maned wolf who works at our company," she said, smiling. "He said he works with you, and that's where I first got interested."

Nick's eyes widened as Judy stepped forwards. "Sweet cheese, I didn't know!" she giggled.

"Who's this?" a very confused Skye asked from the side.

"Didn't we tell you?" Retsuko asked. "We have a friend at work who helped Nick on undercover missions, providing cover. It was he who inspired me to step up and report that tax issue, taking down that criminal!"

"I think I remember you mentioning it," Jack said. "I definitely remember that it was a rodent criminal you got, it was his pavilion we saw when Skye hurt her leg."

"Yeah," Haida added. "That's the one. Apparently, he was a mob boss in Tundratown."

Jack looked on smugly, before looking to the side. "Judy, anything to add?"

"Uhhh, ummm," Judy stammered out, before pushing through a smile. "Why would I?"

Jack crossed his paws and flashed over a smug enough look to beat Nick at his own game. "Ah, you are but an apprentice, and I the master. Acting skills happen to go both ways, and I saw that little flash across your face. So, Judy Hopps, I have to ask, what mysterious backstory do you have on you ready to reveal?"

_._

_._

* * *

_._

_._

"...O-kay," Judy began, holding back before pushing forwards. "I think we all remember that, so no need to go over it again! All good?"

A single paw came up and Judy groaned, looking over at Haida. "This may be a stupid question," he asked. "But did that involve a giant donut?"

Five heads nodded back at him.

"Huh, okay then," he said, lowering his paw.

"Right," Judy said, smiling with relief. "Next, we…" She cut herself off Haida's paw went up again, her eyes drooping down and her brow furrowing. "Yeeessss…."

"I think I remember something related to that."

Judy groaned, only for Skye to cut her off. "I do too. -Ookami related, not your organised crime links related."

"Thank-you, Skye…" the bunny muttered, only for her eyes to widen as she also remembered.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Karma's going to dump some snow on me," Nick muttered, as they slipped outside, a wall of cold hitting them.

"Is this still about Finnick?" Judy asked, nudging into him. "Yes, you were a very dumb fox there, but maybe not quite a super naughty bad one."

Retsuko looked on in confusion. "I'm still not sure what the problem is."

"I don't think you get it," Nick muttered.

"No, I don't," Haida said. "Why's Fenneko hanging out with this Finnick such a bad thing? He's… -he's not a wifebeater. Wait, IS HE!?"

"No," Nick replied. "In fact, I don't even know how he'd be in a relationship."

"Does he have a criminal record or something?" Retsuko asked.

Judy was about to speak, only to pause, looking up at Skye, the fox raising an eyebrow as she looked back. A slight tension ran through them for a second or two, only to be cut off by Nick. "Technically, it's sealed," he said. "He was once a very naughty boy."

"Oh," Retsuko noted. "But he's, what, in his thirties? That's a long time…"

"Yes, and I knew him for most of it. He's not a criminal, but not exactly prime boyfriend material either," Nick snarked, his face drooping into his paws.

"Hey," Retsuko said, nudging up to him. "If he's really that bad, he won't last a second against Fenneko."

"You don't know him."

"You don't know her," she countered.

"Seriously," Haida added, "you don't."

Nick paused, before shaking it off. "Okay," he began, still not quite sure. "Maybe this isn't quite the crime against love that I feared I'd committed." He paused, before turning to Jack and Skye. "What do you two think?"

They both shrugged, before Jack's eyes widened. "Idea!"

"Yes Stripes?"

"Idea to do good," he said, moving over to the fox. "If that was so bad, why not do a good?"

"What, set up a better pairing as karmic compensation?"

"Yeah!" Jack said, crossing his paws. "Here we are, going out of our way to do a good."

Nick paused, before turning to Judy. "Mind punching me if I'm moving towards another Finneko quality pairing?"

"Will do."

"Okay," Nick said, looking forwards. "Who've you got in mind, Stripes?"

…

"I dunno. Eddie?"

"Was he the sheep?" Nick asked, before turning to Judy. "Don't you have a sheep friend called Shar…"

He was cut off by a punch by Judy.

"Right then," he said. "What about that koala thea…"

He was cut off by a punch by Jack.

"Thankfully you don't even punch like a bunny," Nick countered. "But I get your point. Any other suggestions? Or… -Hang on, what about Ookami? He's single, isn't he?"

"He's also gay," Retsuko said. "So, unless you know any other gay maned wolves…"

"Maybe he's an inter?" Judy asked.

"That's getting into pretty low odds," Haida countered. "We literally got the lesson on that."

"But there might be a better chance if it's another kind of wolf," Skye mused, looking down before her eyes widened, staring at Nick. "Or…"

"I'm taken," he said, pointing at Judy.

"Yes," she added. "Paws off my foxy."

Nick gave his trademark smirk. "Oh, is it _your_ foxy now?"

She giggled. "Now and forever."

"Anyway," Skye said. "A fox might also have a higher chance," she said, bringing out her phone.

"Am I about to find out about a new and suddenly plot relevant friend of yours," Jack mused. "Or is this going to be hilariously obvious in post?"

"Wait and see," she said, as Haida clicked his paw. Walking over, he chuckled.

"Knew it."

Retsuko followed, "Oh, of course!"

Jack looked up. "Right, the latter one."

Nick and Judy filtered up too, their heads cocking. "Why are you looking through a hospital website?"

"Because," Skye said, as she paused. "Of a certain Bi-fox who helped fix my leg," she said, pointing to a picture.

Retsuko nodded, bringing out her phone, taking a picture of a picture, and sending it off. "Now, maybe Ookami is only into other maned wolves or…"

She was cut off by a return text.

"What does it say?" Nick asked.

"It says…. 'UWU'…"

"…We'll take that as a yes," Skye said, confidently. "As for our fox, I got his number in case I had any problems with my leg, just send off Ookami's number and picture and… it's up to him!"

She did it, then smiled. "Now, Nick. Are you going to stop moping around now that the karmic-romantic balance is restored?"

He looked on, a little unsure, as Retsuko's phone buzzed again.

"Ookami says: 'Does he have any Junior-high school uniforms?'" There was a pause, and then another text. "'Both genders work.'" Then another. "BTW I'm drunk Senpai."

…

Nick shrugged, before walking over to a nearby overhang, a massive mass of snow teetering on its edge. "Karmic balance, if you are still slighted, strike me down now!"

…

"Oh good, we're even now," Nick said, smiling as he walked off. He then froze as a massive rumble came from behind him, the fox turning to see a mass of fallen snow at his feet. "Okay, don't push it. Got it…"

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Still no reply," Skye noted, Retsuko agreeing.

"Okay," Judy noted. "So, we met up. Then, we somehow ended up in Tundratown where we had drinks, shipped friends, and had a good time."

"What happened between that time period…" Judy pondered. "And why am I suddenly getting a serious case of Deja-vu?"

She was cut off by Jack, the suddenly angry bunny stepping up and crossing his paws as he stepped forwards. He looked outraged and irritated; a remarkable feat given that he was still in a significantly undersized fox onesie. "Ahem, Judy, do not tell me that you are forgetting the first major thing that we did?"

.

.

* * *

.

.

"I'm so excited," Retsuko whispered, as she cosied up into her front row seat at Moon's Theatre, ready to watch Jack's draft rehearsal. "I don't even know what this is about."

"I don't either," Skye added.

Judy paused, looking over at her. "Weren't you hanging around when he was quoting things from his scripts?"

"Weren't you in his drama society?" the swift fox countered.

"Yes."

"Did any of his ramblings make sense back then?"

"Point taken," Judy replied, as she settled back. She was dressed smartly, with Kozlov's necklace around her neck.

Nick smiled smugly. "As I said before. I bet on a western."

Haida smiled. "Not really a genre I was ever into, but I'm excited!"

"Yeah!" Judy agreed.

"Calm it, Carrots," Nick spoke. "We don't want a repeat of the lobby incident, do we?"

Judy turned to look at him. "What?" she defended.

"What do you mean, 'what?' Don't tell me that you didn't get all emotional when you learned how they'd sold that knock-off…"

"-It may not be a knock off," Judy pointed out, crossing her paws and glaring at him. "In fact, I'm pretty sure that sarcophagus was incredibly valuable. I could imagine greedy mammals taking it away, forever, and leaving the true owner to suffer alone and..."

"Woah, calm down," Skye interrupted, her ears peeling back. "I know that the auction may not have been the most traditional, but it was all signed off and done by Buster Moon."

"Yeah," Judy sighed, shaking her head a little and fingering her necklace. "I'm sorry, Skye. I'm not sure why I got so emotional over it. Whatever the case, it was he who sold it straight off to that collector rather than letting the auction properly end when promised, not you two. It's odd though, when you told me about that hustle, I imagined being someone else and getting thrown away from it, by… -well, it was obviously Buster, grey fur and all. It made me angry, probably due to memories of family members getting swindled at dodgy farm auctions. But Buster is a decent mammal, isn't he?"

"He seems like he's decent," Nick said.

"Also, a meddler," Skye added.

"But still," she said, looking away while stroking her necklace. "I don't hate him or anything, but if I was in the place of one of the mammals who got short changed, I feel like I'd hate him…" She trailed off, before shaking her head. "Honestly, it's scary how absurdly I would hate him."

"Don't worry," Nick replied, moving over and beginning to massage the top of Judy's scalp.

"Hey, staaawwwwwoooohhhhhdooooon't staaahhhhppppp Niiiiiick…. Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh…"

"There," he replied, "It's just bunny brain in overdrive. It's been that way a lot, ever since this whole new howler thing started."

Judy nodded, bringing her legs up and tucking them in, while holding her arms against her chest and necklace.

Retsuko, seeing this, immediately stood up and got into Haida's lap to his surprise. "Huuhhhh, oh, okay then…" She then promptly began receiving her own petting, as Judy, seeing this, went up into her own boyfriend's lap.

"Just relax, Carrots," he cooed.

Between them, Skye looked around, before picking up her crutches and trying to stroke them. After a few tries, she put them down, her ears drooping as she resorted to stroking her tail.

Meanwhile, up in one of the viewing boxes, a sheep, a koala and a sentient chameleon sat down. The marsupial of the three was fidgeting. "I really am worried," Buster said, looking down. "-And not just because I might make another translation mix up if I have to talk to that red panda. I mean, Jack's such a vivid creator. I fear he's just too extreme for most mammals to enjoy. He's very good, but he just needs someone to make everything family friendly…"

Eddie looked on, down at the stage. "You know, you've been saying this for all this time, and everyone's not been happy. Maybe it's time to let others experiment?"

"But what if it all goes horribly wrong?"

"That's for future us to worry about."

"I suppose so… But still, just us… alone with our fears…"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that bunny heard us talk just now. They have really good hearing. Otherwise, if this were to appear in a future memory or something, it really wouldn't make any logical sense, as how would they know what we were saying?"

"Oh, um… Okay then."

Every mammal (and reptile) settled down, as the lights dimmed and the curtain withdrew. A high pitched, slightly out of tune piano began playing a stereotypical western tune and the lights slowly rose. The curtains drew, the stage set was revealed, and it opened out to reveal the inside of a tavern. Mammals in period costume, from old world predators and prey in western gear to new world mammals in native outfits hung about. There were those playing cards, those at the bar gulping down shots, and then, with a thundering sound, the saloon door swung open as a massive wolf entered. The piano playing stopped, eyes turned to look at him, and paws and hooves slowly emerged, poised like rattlesnakes to strike at their guns.

A heartbeat began playing, quiet at first, but then faster and faster and faster until…

The lights went out.

The music played again as a solitary spotlight was cast down on the saloon door once more. Dressed up in a suit and tie, formal wear at least a century younger than the time period, Jack Savage stepped out. "This kind of thing," he began, waving his arms up as spotlights flashed on and off, temporarily illuminating the scenes around. "-Did not happen. Or, at least, did not happen often." He stepped forwards, briefly looked around, before pulling out a chair and sitting down. "The Old World first set foot in the New in Central America, with the first great attempt at conquest being that against the Azgat Empire. Cortes and his thousand mammals, forming an alliance between multiple native tribes who despised their oppressors and fielded hundreds of thousands between them, tried to take Tenochmizton but initially failed, fleeing back to the coast. Reaching a large plain, they were able to trick the advancing armies into fighting them on terrain perfect for a war horse charge, turning the tide. They then pushed back to the capital, while unexpected developments took place in the city on the lake. While the Azgat's were primarily a feline empire, a small contingent, say ten-percent, was canine. In this time, half of those canines were killed by an epidemic of distemper, an old-world disease brought over which they had no immunity to. Had there been a disease to strike every mammal, then maybe the city would fall to the Spanish..."

"Instead, during one of the long sieges, Cortes was captured and killed on a causeway. The Spanish left to their coastal holdings, but the natives carried on the siege, starving out the Azgats over years before brutally slaughtering those left in a long awaited act of revenge. These new natives then formed an alliance with the new viceroy and the colonisation began. The natives could not be taken from the land, they were just too numerous. Instead, the colonisers built roads and focussed on the rivers and coast. With better tools, and agricultural techniques to sell, they became a powerful merchant class. Small skirmishes would kick up, but they could be won. With treaties signed and trade developing, Mexigat became what it was today."

He paused, shrugging, before carrying on. "It was a similar affair in South America, bar the Llamcan empire, who were unaffected by disease and used the hostile native terrain to remain the only uncolonized native civilization, surviving today under the Supai dynasty as the Reino Del Sol. In the north though, both canine distemper and various cervine diseases hit the largest sets of native tribes hard. There were no cities or large empires in the east, allowing settlers to easily push west to the great Mississippi. Some species were struck by plagues travelling the other way, most infamously squirrel plague. Most smaller mammals, like groundhogs, were assimilated. But, the times were a-changing."

There was a pause, as a spotlight showed a massive bison, dressed in native gear. "The Bison tribes of the plains, unaffected by disease, could easily field enough forces to hold the expansion back _if_ properly equipped. Moreover, some of them had travelled east. Taking European names during their travels in British Upper Canidea, three Bison: Markus, Conrad and Jean, sought to develop their tribes. While Jean, a pioneering industrialist, was buried in an avalanche, the others began building a nation. The Northern Bison Nation played a crucial role in the war of 1812, helping the British-Canidean forces defeat the United States. Set up and independent, but still weak and unstable, Markus chose to secure his people's rights by joining the fledgling Dominion."

There was another pause, then a smile. "Meanwhile, despite the loss of Texas, Mexicat was able to hold on to many of its northern holdings thanks to support from US-wary native forces. But, with many colonisers arriving by ship in the west and a subsequent war of independence, Califurnia and many of the western colonies sought to join the States. Zootopia chose to remain independent of both them and Canidea, as it is to this day. Come the 1860's, there was thankfully no kind of dodgy internal conflict to distract the Union and so, under the command of the horse general Georgi Checkhoove, supposedly a descendent of the great Don Cossack horselords of the past, they pushed forwards. Mexicat was pushed back to the Cowlorado-SanJuan-RioGrande line but held; the future states of Cowlorado, Wyroaming, Idahowl, Ewetah and Nevroarda were colonised; the transcontinental railroad was opened… And then what?"

Another pause, as the lights rose.

"While forced from the rivers and railroads, many native tribes stayed put, working the land but trading with the colonisers, the same as the tribes in northern Mexicat. After all, if they objected, they could go there and do the same. There were certainly scraps and fights over land rights, especially as many of the once disease affected tribes had long since recovered from the epidemics. But, this idea of violence in the wild west was a lie. It was a myth. It was a story. Sure, there were famous heroes and villains back then. Fighters for justice like Quick-Draw McGraw, Zorro and El-Kabong, versus banditos such as Joey James, Bull Cassidy and the Sundance Kit, and Tennessee 'The Kid' Cooper… But, on the other paw, Buffalo Bill, who did exist and was a decorated ex-soldier, was not a gun-slinging outlaw-catcher but an actor, a showman, a wild-west themed circus performer."

The lights rose, revealing the set in all its glory. "This idea of the wild west is a myth, yet we believe it. We believe it as we want to. We believe it because it draws us in. If you want a statistic to chew on, have this one. Many frontier towns had lower murder rates than the big cities." There was a pause, the lights dimmed and re-focussed on Jack, who smiled. "Here's another one. In that time period, a mammal of 137 pounds, or 62 kilograms of weight, would drink an average of 7 gallons, or 26 litres, of pure alcohol per year. In less than three years, they'd drink their own body weight in ethanol. That's the equivalent to a bottle of hard liquor every four days," he announced, stepping over to a cloth draped table and whipping its cover away. Four shots revealed themselves. "Or, it's the equivalent of four and a bit shots a day, every day." He looked at the audience and shrugged. "This was an average," he said, as he stepped forwards into an empty area. There was a light dripping, then some more, and the small crowd gasped as it started to rain on Jack. "Many mammals abstained, or drunk less, or were children. Many drank more, far more." He smiled as he raised his paws to the sky. "It might as well have been raining drink."

And then the lights began going haywire. Behind Jack, the crowd began moving, pushing, shouting. He dropped down into the stage as angry cries rang out. The occasional flash of light would show something going on, though who the mammals were and what they were doing was unclear. Cries and screams and anger-filled shouts called until, out of the blue, a shot rang out.

Everything went black.

And, then, the lights rose. The set had changed, and now a sheriff's office presented itself. Sitting up, a groggy looking wolf (who Judy realised was Legoshi, another old friend from her University Drama Society) got to his feet, stuttering forwards before knocking into the bars of his cell.

There was another groan from another cell, as a deer (NOT the deer she also knew from back then) stood up.

Then a horse joined the three in their imprisonment.

And then, tutting and sauntering in, came a swaggering sheriff. The massive black bear looked at them, just standing there, looming up tall. The deer, looking thin and weak in comparison despite his broad shoulders and massive antler rack, leaned forwards to speak.

The bear roared in his face, sending him and the others flinching back and down, before standing up and patting his belly. "You know," he pondered with a deep Texas twang. "I am a man of tha' law, and I am a man of respect. I am a mammal who is entrusted by this town, y'all can see that by this little badge here, to govern and bring mammals in to face tha' law.

"The law…?" the wolf asked, looking around.

"THE LAW! The law put down by God, don't you hear me son!?" He marched forward, lunging an arm in and grabbing the wolf's foot, dragging it out. The canine whimpered, but could do nothing as the bear's paws climbed up, dragging him against the bars until he was upright. The sheriff sneered, holding onto the prisoner with a paw around his scruff. In the audience, Nick and Skye couldn't help but wince. "The law that you have broken in my town, under my watch, and the law that y'all owe, don't you, boy?"

"W-W-Where am I?"

"Jail, Boy."

"W-W-Why?"

"Murder, Boy." The bear tossed the wolf down, glaring at the two other prisoners. "And I think y'all three both happen to know what we do to murderin' varmints around these here parts, don't we?"

The stage darkened, bar a red light that shone on a hanging noose, up in the corner of the stage.

"But I don't remember anything!" the wolf protested.

"Don't mean nothin' if y'all did it," the bear muttered, before looking over at the others and chuckling. "Say, do y'all two remember?"

They both shook their heads.

"Do any of you know who is dead, at one of your paws?"

They both did the same.

The bear chuckled. "You know, it could be one of you. It could be all of you. I don't think we quite know, yet. Still, I am gonna enjoy watching the judge and jury on this one," he said, before looking out to the crowd. "A jury made of your 'peers' out there," he spoke. "Let's go an' select twelve angry mammals to decide who lives, and who dies."

The stage went black, the curtains withdrew and, bar an unsure koala, the small crowd rose in attempted thunderous applause as Jack came out. He explained how (usually) they'd pick a jury to sit up front out of the crowd, though this time the seven mammals and one reptile present could stay where they were and suffice, before the show went on.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Hang on…" Judy began, not quite sure what to say. "We went and saw a play about some mammals having too much booze and waking up to find out that they didn't remember what they'd got up to the night before…. And then, we had too much booze and don't remember what we got up to the night before…"

"-I know! Isn't this great!" Jack said, twitching and shaking with glee. He then leapt up, twisting and kicking his feet in the air as she did so, before landing back down.

Judy was not impressed. "THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR BINKYING!"

"Yes it is!" he exclaimed. "Don't you see. I get to examine a real-life occurrence of this famously overdone cliché, first pawed! I mean, it was my least favourite thing about the entire plot, given how many times that sort of thing has been done before, even if I was able to subvert it with some secret keeping and prisoner's dilemma stuff. But, regardless, I had to base the plot off of it to make the murder mystery work, and amp up all the conflicts. I mean, I'd never write in a hungover-forget-everything scene for something like this here. I mean, someone who does a hangover amnesia structure for a dating story of all things has to be some unoriginal talentless hack. Pah… But now, I get to observe and learn. What is it really like? What kind of things might I have missed that I can slip in right at the last minute. How does it play out. What does it actually feel like…"

"A headache," Haida mumbled, Jack pausing.

"Yes, I mean, how might that affect my characters…."

"Jack," Nick interrupted. "Maybe quieten down a little? I don't know about it affecting your characters, but Haida might affect you if you keep that up."

"Oh…" he said, "Sorry." He then paused, noticing a pen and paper pad lying on a desk and running off to grab it, before slipping down next to Skye. "Right, notes, notes, notes…" he muttered, busying himself.

"You know," the hyena muttered, "this is like the last time I got crazy drunk. It was a work evening that Ookami organized. I came in the next day and I felt like someone had whacked me over the head. Fenneko was just the same. Isn't that right, Retsuko?"

"Y-y-yep…" she stammered out, a giant smile suddenly plastered across her face. "I totally heard that from both of you…"

"Well," Skye remarked, "it'll go away in a little while. Things heal."

"Some faster than others," Haida mused, pulling up his wounded paw to look at it.

"Ahem," Jack coughed, his eyes gesturing down to Skye's cast.

"Oh… Right, sorry there," he said.

Skye paused for a second or two, her head tilting a little, before she looked down at Jack. "I don't need you to stick up for me, Jack."

"I… -okay, then."

"Yeah," she said, before glancing up. "And don't worry Haida, it wasn't you, it was that paving slab in the…." She trailed off, everyone turning to face her. "Oh, hang on just a minute."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"This is pretty," Skye said, peering out of their gondola as they sailed through the Rainforest District.

"I guess it is," Retsuko whispered. "I live here and take them often, so it's just a thing. But right now, it really is." She smiled. "I thought it was a silly idea, but it was great. Thanks."

"Well, it's Carrots who you'll have to thank," Nick pointed out. "Her idea."

"Well," she replied, "I'm sure you had a paw in it too…"

"I can't remember," Nick said, cradling his head as Haida leant over.

"Too much drink?"

"No, more panic induced by a savage jaguar."

"…Right, then…"

Judy sniggered. "We went on one during the nighthowler case. Nick had just saved my badge, took me on here, and it was the first time he opened up about… about a certain day." She paused, waving her boyfriend over and snuggling with him. "It was then I knew that he was my friend, maybe even my best one."

Nick looked down and wrapped her up with his tail. "You know, I didn't realise it for a long time, but it was then that I first loved you."

Judy paused, looking up to him, before leaping up into a full body hug. Skye looked on, wrapping her tail around her bunny, while looking out on the passing scenery. She looked left and right, up and down, smiling as she saw all the little lights pass. "Each one of those is a house… And each one has a mammal in it. Do you ever think about that? Each one with their own life, and their own history, and their own parents and ones who they'll love and ones who they'll hate." She pointed up, her finger fixed on a lit window as they passed it. "There's a private world of dreams and hopes in there. And we'll never know them, and they us."

"All those mammals," Judy said, letting go of Nick and glomping down beside her. "Here we are, trying to make the world a better place for them."

"Well, you are," Skye replied, looking over and smiling. "Even though you'll go your entire lives without meeting them… Same world… Different mammals."

There was a brief pause, before Judy began singing. " _We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after after…_ "

Nick heard it and chuckled, joining in along with Skye. " _Running over the same old ground, what have we found?_ "

And then Jack, Retsuko and Haida came in for the finale. " _The same old fears. Wish you were here…_ "

.

.

"Hey, don't you want to join us on this side?" Judy asked, glancing over at Haida and Retsuko, still on the other side. "Be part of the group?"

"I prefer being part of the counterweight," he replied, the bunnies and foxes noting the slight tilt towards their side.

"That's a good idea," Skye said, smiling. She paused, thinking, before looking up, her eyes widened. "Hey, guess where we're going over!"

Everyone looked out over the edge, seeing themselves fly over a mottled, glowing, circle, ever changing its colours. Around it, they could see carved stone steps, with mammals mingling about. Retsuko turned back to her. "This is where you hurt your leg!"

"Yeah," Haida replied. "I mean, over this side is the pavilion thing of that crime boss we busted."

Judy slipped off her railing to have a look, a little unsteady on her feet from what she'd been drinking. She glanced over at it just as they vanished into the trees. "Yikes…" she whispered, shaking her head. She paused, looking around. "Riigghhtt… Not snowing anymore."

"Not snowing?" Nick asked.

She shook her head. "When I saw it, it just looked like it was snowing around us," she mused, going quiet. "And that it was on fire. And that there was a blue spotlight firing up out of it, and I could see its reflection in the pond."

There was a quiet moment for a second or two, before Haida spoke. "I… -think that you've had a bit too much to drink."

"Yeeaahhhnnnnooooommmmaaayyybbbeeeee?" She said.

"Well," Retsuko added. "Where we're going next, you can recover a little. After all, it's not snowing here. We're not in Tundratown anymore, are we?"

"I guess," she mused, walking back to Nick. "I guess…"

The fox nodded. "Don't want you hurting yourself, do we?"

"Hey… I'm not scared of it…"

"It may not be your fear, but it is mine," he noted, petting her a little.

"Mine too," Haida added, looking up and chuckling. "Same old fears."

"I think I fear just being useless," Skye said, before looking down at Jack. "And… and leaving this life… I want to think there's something after, but I know that there likely isn't, and that… that scares me."

"I'm scared of…" Jack began, before going quiet. "Can we come back to me later? I need time to work on my answer."

"I guess I'm scared of scary things," Retsuko said. "I had an incident with what I thought was a break in a while back… And I used to be scared that I'd be stuck in my same old job and same apartment with no-one, forever and ever." She looked up at her hyena and hugged him. "I don't fear that anymore."

Haida smiled and hugged her back. "There, there, Retsy."

"I fear failing others," Judy said, quietly. She'd turned to look over the edge, Nick quickly scooting up to comfort her. "I fear messing up so badly that others are hurt. I fear letting others down. I fear letting other mammals get hurt, which is why I work so hard."

Everyone was quiet for a second or two, the only interruption being a rumble as the sky-tram's grip passed over one of the support towers.

"Well," Nick said, "you're always a trier. Aren't you?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"And I'll always be there for you."

"Thanks Nick," she replied, before chuckling.

"Yeah," he replied. "Just go jumping into danger too often."

"Would it make you worried to hear that I had an urge to help out at that pavilion," she asked.

"Would it make me worried? Given how high up we are, yes, yes it would."

"Well, good thing it was just a silly thought then," she replied, chuckling a bit. "I had the sudden feeling that that thing was terrible… -was _like_ Hatchikoshima bad or something, and I had to go and help."

"That's a rather high standard for badness," Haida pointed out.

Judy shrugged. "I guess. It was just what came to me. Probably the drink."

"Well," Retsuko said, "we'll be doing something different for this bit of the date." She looked over the edge of the tram and smiled. "We're almost there. Haida."

"Right," he said, walking over to pick up Skye. Jack got her crutches, and the rest of them got ready to get off.

.

.

* * *

.

.

Judy scratched out the 'Hatchikoshima' line on the board, before putting her paws on her hips. "Right then, what do we know so far?" she asked, Skye answering.

"We went to Tundratown, maybe right after the play, and then we went into the Rainforest District for an idea that Retsuko had."

Judy nodded, as Haida spoke. "We also know that we were in Tundratown for a bit… -In fact!" He grabbed his phone, opening it up and scanning through it. "Hang on, it's on yours," he said to Retsuko.

"Oh, right!" the red panda noted, scanning through.

Jack looked on, an ear flopping. "Are you two looking at Selfies to track everything down? As that takes the fun out of this."

There was a pause as everyone turned to look at him.

"Jack," Judy began. "You are a GENIUS!"

"Huh!"

Nick nodded. "I'll hand it to you Stripes," he said, grabbing his phone. "We should have enough pictures on these bad boys to piece everything back together.

"Wait, wait… hang on!"

Skye smiled. "It's true, though I think we're forgetting who actually had the idea first," she said, looking over at Haida and Retsuko.

"Yes, the idea that takes the fun out of this. They didn't take pictures in westerns…"

"Actually," the hyena began, "I was thinking of using the texts we sent to Fenneko to timestamp when we were in Tundratown."

"Yeah," Retsuko said. "We sent them at about ten-pm."

"Stop… -actually, this could be like checking telegrams sent, or…"

"So, the play was six 'til eight," Judy noted, writing a big block on the wall. "Given a bit of time for Jack to give feedback, and getting to Tundratown, we'd be there at nine."

"Ah," Skye noted, looking down at Jack. "Didn't you get some food when the shipping was going on?"

"I… Yes, I was."

"Which means…" Judy began, as she saw Retsuko raise her paw.

"We were likely doing something in between, either in Sahara Square or Tundratown."

"Bingo!" Judy cheered, smiling. "Great detective work, you two."

They both looked at each other and smiled, before crossing their arms and nodding.

"So," Judy began, "we can then use selfies and stuff to work out what that was!"

"Wait," Jack began, "I thought we'd dropped that."

"Nu-uh," Nick teased. "Stripes, we're going to use your idea whether you like it or not."

"I don't like it!"

"Too bad," the red fox dismissed, as he scrolled through. "Ah-Ha!" He turned his phone around, and showed off the picture to everyone. "We went sledding!"

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Race to the bottom?" Judy asked, looking around.

"Yeah," Haida agreed. "Why not?"

Jack looked at both of them. "Just an FYI, you can't really blame Skye and I if we come in last."

"And if you do better?" Nick asked.

Jack crossed his arms and looked on smugly. "Then you were beaten by a cripple." The smug look was then removed by a liberal application of snowball to the face.

"Don't call me that," Skye said. Her cast had been wrapped and tied up in some plastic bags, while she settled down, head first, onto her sled.

"I was just trying to help."

"By getting you two into a no-shame, all-glory set-up," Nick pointed out, as he sat down on his own sled. Judy sat in his lap, smiling as a tail came around her.

"Right then…" Haida was muttering, as he sat feet first on his sled. Like all of them, there were some skid-steering brakes on either side, and he gave them a little practice. Jack, on Skye's back, was controlling their ones, while Nick and Judy both held on. "One long sledding piste. Ready, Retsy?"

"Ready!" she said, lying head first on his chest.

"Right then," Nick announced, nudging forwards. "We get into position. We take a selfie…" he broke off to do just that. "And then, we play this MP3 file Ash just sent me when I told him what we were planning."

Nick pressed play on the '[ _Ski-Sunday theme. MP3_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQJsTsJrIqw)' folder and held up his paw as he counted off of it. "Three, two, one, GO!" he announced, as the music played and they let loose.

They quickly began picking up speed as they went down the slope, Nick hunching over with Judy, both making sure that their brakes were off. They didn't have much time for fun though, as the far heavier and more streamlined Haidsuko team slipped out in front. "Hey…" Judy complained, before blinking as Jack and Skye slipped past on their other side. "Lie back, Nick."

"Right," he said, bending back.

"More!"

"Okay…"

"More!"

"Judy, this is as far as…"

"MORE!" she called, bending herself back hard enough to send Nick flat. "See! We did it!"

"And now I can't see!"

"I… TURN RIGHT!"

Nick bent that way, flinching as he saw themselves glance past a snowmammal. "CARROOOTTTTSSS!"

Wiggling back down him and reaching out with a paw, Nick felt her stretch his head back onto the level, just in time for him to lean to the right as the piste split up.

"Great idea, we can take the black run down and catch them up."

"BLACK RUUUUUAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Gritting his teeth, holding onto the sled for dear life as it bounced and rumbled down the well-used and carved slope, Nick bent them past a few surprised skiers and cut across the tail end of the piste. They'd just cut the corner of the others and, thanks to him, were catching up. He could see team Haidsuko up ahead in the lead, with team SavageSkye in their slipstream behind. The music kept playing and Nick, leaning as he went, curved in and past them.

"Huh!" Haida muttered, as they slipped past.

"YESS! GO TEAM WILDEHOPPS!" Judy cried, "We're gonna…. Ohhhh…." She trailed off as they both hit a shallow part of the slope, the snow well carved by a full day of use. With his bigger sled and much higher momentum, Haida rolled back into the front.

"We're doing it!" Retsuko announced.

"No, no, no, no…" Judy muttered, as she looked up ahead. "Hang on, look over there!"

Nick did just that. The end of the slope was coming into view and the path down was relatively shallow, ending in a large area where snow cannons were busy at work replenishing the base. "Not looking good, fluff."

"No, look to the side!" Nick did just that, spotting a piste basher working its way up, a trail of perfect corduroy left behind it.

"Ah-ha!" he cheered, turning sharply. He even pulled one of his brakes to shift them across as quickly as possible, clipping past the machine and lining straight up into the grooves it had left. They began whipping down the slope, whereas Haida's sled was having to push through cut-up slow snow. Halfway there and they slid past.

"YES! YES! YES!" Judy yelled.

"We're not there yet," Nick called. "Look!" Looking down the slope, she realised that the basher hadn't come from the very bottom. They were going to have to cut across it, and push through some very choppy snow very, very soon. "HOLD ON!"

She clutched him hard, and he felt like he was going to snap the sled in his paws, and then they hit the chop. They were bashed about, up and down, almost torn off their sled or tipped over. Nick pulled back their brakes, slowing them down enough so they just about landed on the downhill part of a hump instead of colliding with the uphill part of the next one. The sudden uplift was still rough, and, as they broke through the chop in a spray of powder, they began slowly sliding down the home straight. Snow began fluttering around them as they passed by roaring snow cannons and Nick leaned further back, lifting the nose of his sled so it began running on top of the powder.

"Looks like we have it in the bag!" came a cheer from behind, and the two watched Haida and Retsuko slip right past them, carried by their momentum. Then, as he hit deep powder, their weight sunk them in, a bow wave kicked up in front of them.

They were still faster.

Still faster…

Just a bit faster…

As fast….

Slower…

Nick and Judy, skimming along the top of the powder, began catching up. "It's going to be neck and neck!" Judy gasped.

"Not if we can help it!" They turned, and watched Jack and Skye slide past, finally exiting Haida's slipstream. They had the same speed that Haida and Retsuko once had, but they glided along the top of the snow drift, past Nick and Judy and then past Haida and Retsuko, pipping them to the post.

It was a photo finish, but their momentum just about carried Haida and Retsuko into second place.

"Wooohhhhh…"

"Yeah!"

"Rematch!" Judy announced, standing up.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Yesssss…." Skye cheered, shaking her paw.

Jack couldn't help but join in. " _Weeee arrrreeee the champions, my friends…. Ba-ba-ba-dahhh… And weee, will keep fighting, to the end…. Na-na-na-naahhhhh. Oh, we are the champions, no time for los…-_ PPFFHMMMMMPHHH."

As he recovered from Judy's expertly tossed throw pillow, Haida looked on at his paw. "Now, did I hurt you then…? No, you were still okay at Papy Mick's."

"Papy Mick's?" Retsuko asked, before all eyes went wide.

"Papy Mick's!"

.

.

* * *

.

.

The group settled down inside the warm Tundratown restaurant; officially 'The Old Wolf Tavern' but commonly known as 'Papy Mick's' after its owner. They sat and chatted to each other as Nick brought them all some big mugs of the places famous hot chocolate. "It's been ages since I last had this," he said, taking his own mug. "But if it's as good as it was before, then…" He trailed off as he had a sip, as did everyone else.

.

.

…

"Wow… I can taste the cloves and stuff," Retsuko whispered.

"This is amazing," Haida added, sipping from his massive mug.

"All those wasted years," Nick added, sniffing a little. "Forgetting how good this was."

"My native people invented this…" Jack said quietly. "It is Papy Mick's drink now."

"Cheese and crackers…"

"Actually, hot and chocolate," Nick teased, causing Judy to guffaw into her drink.

"Could I have a second?" Skye asked. "But with Haida's mug?"

"Careful with the theobromine intake Skye…" Nick warned, before looking down at his drink. "Even if I do agree with you. One-hundred percent."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"What do you mean you don't do deliveries?"

…

"Okay, thank you good sir." Nick hung up his phone and looked to the crowd. "Apparently they have a very nice breakfast menu. Any better ideas?"

"No."

"No."

"No."

"No."

"It's on the other side of the city," Jack protested. "But no."

.

.

"Right then," Judy said. "All the more reason to wrap this up sooner. We did play, sledding, food and drinks at Papy Mick's, shipping, ride over into the Rainforest District…" She paused, then looked at Haida. "Was your paw okay on the sky tram ride?"

"Yeah," he said, scratching his head. "In fact, it had to be fine as I played bass with it later…"

…

"-Also, I played bass later."

Nick and Retsuko both filtered through their phone. "He played bass later. We all played stuff."

.

.

* * *

.

.

Like every reggae song in existence, [a drum roll signalled](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGUr6wzyT8) the start before a groovy tune took over. Drinks flowing, mammals cheering, the six of them were up on stage at a karaoke/Guitar Hero setup. At the back, Haida was playing his bass so well that the backing had turned off for him, while Jack tried to keep up on the drums. The others had cheap plastic arcade guitars, and all followed the lyrics on the screen. " _Don't worry_ ," they sang, before Skye tried to hit the right keyboard notes, the backing system playing the original organ chords instead. " _-About a thing… 'Cause every little thing, gonna be all right!_ " Nick smiled as he nudged up to Judy, wrapping his tail around her as she snuggled up to him. " _Singin: don't worry, about a thing. 'cause every little thing, gonna be all right!"_

Jack and Skye shared a look, while Retsuko nudged up to Haida. " _Rise up this mornin', smiled with the risin sun."_ The hyena and red panda shared one.

Marooned at their posts, Skye and Jack blew each other a kiss, knowing damn sure that they'd make it up to each other afterwards. " _Three little birds, pitch by my doorstep. Singin sweet songs… Of melodies pure and true."_

Together, the applause in the crowd rising, they sung out into the open. " _Sayin, this is my message to you-ou-ou… Singin': Don't worry, about a thing. 'Cause every little thing, gonna be all right!"_

So they carried on and finished to a wave of applause. Then, they put all their instruments down and lined up for one great encour at the end, repeating the song once more to the cheers of the crowd.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"We should do karaoke more often," Skye said, smiling.

"Yup," Retsuko cut in. "-As that's all we did of that, that night."

"It might not have been," Haida mused.

"-Well, maybe I'm wrong, -but-who-care's-right?"

"Hang on," the hyena interrupted, closing his eyes as he strummed out some notes with his paw. Retsuko sighed with relief as he returned. "We did a lot more."

.

.

* * *

.

.

Skye pressed down some rhythmic notes, [the neon like sounds playing out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4YK-DEkvcw), as Jack began pounding the drums and Haida pushed on with his bass. Nick, holding his microphone, nudged up to the hyena and together they sung. " _Once in a lifetime…. -This suffering of fools…_ " The music volume began increasing as the two crooned. " _To find our way home, to break in these paws…_." The music began hitting a crescendo, as they picked up. " _Once in a lifetime…"_

Retsuko echoed it again. " _Once in a lifetime…_ " and then they sung it together. " _ONCE IN A LIFETIME._ "

Jack let rip with the drums, almost taking over from the computer, as all six belted out the chorus, paws up and heads banging. " _Give me a shot at the night…! Give me a moment, some kinda mysterious… Give me a shot at the night...! Give me a moment, some kinda mysterious…_ "

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Obviously," Nick continued, "[we then moved onto…](https://youtu.be/RIZdjT1472Y)"

.

.

* * *

.

.

" _Are we mammal?_ " they sung, as the drums beat behind them. " _Or are we dancer. My sign is vital, my paws are cold… And I'm on my knees, looking for the answer. Are, we, mammal… Or are we dancer_?"

Nick kicked forwards, clutching the microphone and pouring his soul in. " _Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight? There is no message we're receiving, let me know, is your heart still beating?_ "

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Which," Skye mused, "had only one logical ending."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"You know," Nick said, panting. "This next one, well the first line at least, is me… Because I used to wall myself off, I used to be scared about telling the truth…" He then turned to Judy. "I love you Fluff," he said, smiling. Looking at the crowd, he gave them a wink. "As you can see, I've been coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine…"

The six were assaulted with screams and cheers as they kicked off, Nick letting his voice rip. " _[I've been coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE)"_

.

.

* * *

.

.

"I mean, yeah."

"No, totally."

"It was practically a given at this point."

They all settled down, smiling as they remembered, and then Judy's eyes widened.

.

.

* * *

.

.

" _Jealousy_ …" they all sung, headbanging as they went. " _Turning saints into the sea…._ "

The crowd was getting rowdier, and someone tossed an orange object onto the stage. Leaping up, Judy caught it, and immediately glared at the mammal who threw it. " _I'll be returning this to where it belongs!_ " she warned. "- _Destiny is calling me. Open up my eager eyes. 'Cause I'm Mr Brightside…"_

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Oh, thank god. Oh, thank god. Oh, thank god…."

"You know, I still want to know why you…."

_Thump…_

"Again with the fox abuse Carrots. But point taken."

"Okay," she said, getting back to the board. "Play, sledding, Papy Mick's, gondola, karaoke, home… But we still need to know why I feel a faint anger at Skye, Jack's latent fear of Retsuko, what that number is and where we got this board from."

"And my paw," Haida reminded her.

"Right, and your paw."

"You know," the hyena carried on. "Surely, somewhere in there, there'd be a talk about bad bosses or…"

"MOTHERS," Judy and Retsuko said in unison.

.

.

* * *

.

.

Back in Papy Mick's, each having some mulled wine, the bunny doe and red panda sow were engaged in heated conversation. "-And then they said that it was the safest role on the force, and cheered!"

"-She broke into my house to do the cleaning! She'd secretly made a spare key!"

"No way…"

"I thought it was a robber. I called the cops! It was so embarrassing to explain it all."

"Bwahahaha…. Oh, if we'd have been the ones to meet you after that call."

"Don't, please don't…" She breathed in and out. "At least your ones haven't lumbered you with dresses."

"One advantage of being a farm girl," Judy said, taking another swig. "How do you cope?"

"Well….."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Oh no," Retsuko groaned, as Judy's eyes widened. "Oh no-no-no-no…"

.

.

* * *

.

.

" **RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRAARRRRRRRRR RRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE!"**

Judy felt herself get thrown back, head over heels, by the noise, ending up wedged upside down between two foxes. Haida sat by them, nodding his head, while Jack was trying to stuff his ears deeper into his ears.

" **THIS IS HOW I BLOW OFF STEAM!**

**IT IS NOT SOME FAIRYTALE DREAM!**

**I HAVE RAAAAAGGGGEEEE!**

**RAAAAAAAAGGGGGGEEEEEEEE!"**

Bracing herself, Judy got up again and marched forwards, grabbing a microphone.

" **I AM NOT SOME DUMB BUNNY!**

**I WILL GIVE YOU A RUN FOR YOUR MONEY!**

**DON'T CALL ME CUUUTTEEEE!**

**DON'T CALL MEEEEE CUUUUTTTEEEEE!"**

Behind them, Nick turned to Haida, covering his ears and shouting out. "DOES THIS NORMALLY MAKE THEM CUTER AND MAKE ME LOVE THEM MORE!?"

"YES!"

"PAWSOME. WHAT DO YOU THINK JACK!?"

Jack just stuffed his ears in even further, before doing an unintentionally excellent Dark Helmet impression. "MY EAAAARRSSSS…. ARE GOING TO IMPLOOODDEEEE…."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"THAT! WAS! METAL!"

Retsuko rose slightly, and smiled. "You're okay with it?"

"Okay?" Judy asked. "I want to do it again!"

"I DON'T" Jack cried, knotting his ears with his paws. Skye bent down to fuss and pet him, as Judy clicked her fingers and grabbed her pen. Jack's fear of Retsuko was deftly crossed off the board, as Haida walked up. "You can get rid of the number too."

"Huh? You mean 68-1606?"

"Well, not exactly," he said, grabbing Retsuko and flipping her upside down.

"Heyyyy….ohhh. That makes sense now."

"What does?" Judy asked, as Haida put Retsuko down.

"You remembered it when you were upside down on the chair," she said, grabbing the pen and writing on the board. "It's not 68-1606… It's: 9091-89!"

"And that is?" Judy asked, only to flinch down as Jack screamed in horror.

"It's _EVIL….._ "

They all turned to him, the jackrabbit cowering up into Skye and burying his ears, the swift fox doing her best to comfort him. "It's the number I type in for my death metal track," Retsuko explained.

"Yup," Nick said, recognising it. "Sooo… We just need to remember what happens after." He picked out his phone, only to be cut off by Haida humming a familiar tune. He looked to the hyena, now standing up and air-bassing, the hyena looking back and smiling, an expression shared by the fox. They then broke out in song together. " _[-Fox, on the run!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP2umy6TdEU) You scream and, everybody comes…_"

They broke off, firing each other finger guns and a wink, as Jack turned to Skye and sung too. " _[I believe in miracles.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOl4oeHZnBk) Where you from, you sexy thing?"_

Skye cuddled him back and sung out her own song. " _[I got my mind set…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_71w4UA2Oxo) on… you… -I got my mind set… on… you… -I got my mind set… on… you… -I got my mind set… on… you… -But it's gonna take a bunny! A whole lot of cuddly bunny! It's gonna take my cuddly bunny… To do it right, Jack."_

Not to be out-done, Haida looked at his mate and sung out his own lyrics to a different song. " _[I love you-Rets-ko,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9jhDwxt22Y) so put another dime in the jukebox baby….I love you-Rets-ko, so come an' take your time an' dance with me!"_

Both girls and Jack were feeling warm and fuzzy at the attention, while Judy rubbed up to Nick.

Nick rolled his eyes and looked down at her. " _[BUNNY you're a doe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk), make a big noise. Policing in the street, gonna be a real cop someday… You got mud on your face... You big disgrace… Kicking your can all over the place, singin!_"

" _-WE WILL, WE WILL, BOOK YOU!_ " she interrupted, headbanging. All bar Jack, who looked like he was about to have a flashback, then joined in likewise. " _-WE WILL, WE WILL, BOOK YOU!"_

Haida began air guitaring, Nick nodding along until the end before rounding off with a smile as he brought out his phone. "Not to be a killjoy, I could happily spend all of today reenacting the songs we sung last night, but if we want to get to Papy Mick's for breakfast we'll need to get a move on." The others nodded as he filtered through the pictures before sniggering. Then chuckling. Then pointing it in Haida's face.

"GAAAAHHHH! NOT AGAIN!"

"What?" Judy asked, before seeing the picture with her own eyes.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"You can put the cone down, Fluff."

"No…." She mumbled. "Gotta return it to the ZPD."

"Is that a drunk bunny or a tired bunny?"

"It's a…" she mumbled, lumbering towards him but missing with her swing.

"I'll take that as a both, then," he replied, smiling as he picked her up and carried her. He wasn't the only one, Retsuko was sitting on Haida's shoulders. They were cutting through a nocturnal mall, all heading straight back to Nick's place to crash for the night, and feeling the effort of the long night catch up to them in earnest. But just a little way back, with no distractions, and…

"GAAAAHHH! NOT AGAIN!"

Everyone turned to see Haida, who'd stopped outside a locked up basketball shooting game. There were plenty of prizes available, including some unusually familiar hyena plushies.

"Who's even making those!?"

"Those?" Nick asked, before clicking his fingers, his eyes going wide. "Zoobro toy company."

"I…" he began, "but why?"

"Well…" Nick began.

"Y-you know! Is this why you laughed at me earlier?"

"Let me explain…"

.

* * *

.

_Over a decade earlier, a tired Nick and Finnick were manning a pawpsicle stand. Usually, they camped outside rich rodent banker sites. Today, though, was the beginning of the bountiful University End-of-Term seasons. Exams, coursework, rising temperatures and fried nerves, it made the campuses across the city prized pickings. Pulling out another pawpsicle, Nick paused as a weary looking female hyena slumped next to him._

_And then began crying._

" _Hey, hey…" he began, "it's okay. Not the end of the world. Have a pawpsicle, and…"_

_He was cut off as she slammed a pawful of dollars at him, he returning a pawful of pawpsicles. "Now, if you need to talk…"_

" _I did something terrible," she sniffed, looking up. "I'm… I'm a terrible sister, I…"_

" _Hey," he began, his head tilting slightly from confusion. "What gives?"_

_She sniffed, chomped down a dozen pops in one go, and spoke. "I just won a job placement… I…"_

" _That's good," Nick said. "Unless it's for an evil company, which some mammals might think as bad but, you know what, screw them. You're the one making money."_

" _I… I won't be. Well, sort of… That's the problem," she sighed. "I'm… I was studying graphic art and design and… This big toy company said they'd run a competition. Whoever makes the cutest toy wins and gets the job and, in return, they get the toy… And I was tired, and rushing it, and had no ideas, and… All I had was my goofy tomboy fifteen-year-old brother, and so I made him into a plush…"_

" _So?"_

" _I didn't ask him…"_

" _Oh."_

" _And it won, and they're going to make it, and I don't know how to tell him."_

" _Hey, why not tell him when he first sees one," he advised. "I mean, what's the chance he'll ever see one in real life?"_

.

* * *

.

"What's the chance, huh!" Haida yelled, punching a nearby wall. "OWWwwwww…."

He shook his paw, hissing at the pain, and looked at the toys. "I am going to buy a dozen, fill her room when we next meet up, and we're going to have a talk!"

.

.

* * *

.

.

"What's the chance, huh!" Haida yelled, assaulting a sofa before flinching back. "Owwww….." He flicked his paw, rubbing it before scowling. "Next family meet up, I'm going to buy a dozen of those and fill her room with them! Charlotte, you and I are going to have a chat!"

"Huh?" Retusko asked, pausing as she looked up at him.

"What?"

Jack slipped out, still in the undersized fox onesie. "I think she's going to ask something very serious," he said, stepping up to the hyena. "Did you just have the balls to do a flashback in a flashback!?"

"That was me, Stripes," Nick said.

"You madmammal, you!"

"I was actually going to ask about the sister's name," Retsuko said.

"My parents named my sister after the place they went on honeymoon," he said, shrugging. "The Queen Charlotte islands… And when I was born it had been renamed back to the indigenous Haida Gwaii, so they rolled with it."

…

"Oh, fair enough," Retsuko said, everyone shrugging in agreement.

"So," Judy said. "Just one thing left."

"Okay," Jack interrupted, paw up. "I confess, it was me."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"You know what would be funny?" Jack said.

"What?" Skye asked, as she walked beside him with her crutches.

"If… Just like in my play, we drank so much that we forget everything the next day. It would be amazing. We could actually live through one of those things! More... real life… feedback for my play."

"Yeah," Haida chuckled. "Me and Retsuko are thinking of doing a detective course, maybe it could be practice."

"I'm afraid my apartment doesn't have a lab in it," Nick joked, as he wavered a little. He held himself steady, made sure he had a firm grip on the bunny in his paw, before carrying on.

"It will have a traffic cone," Judy mumbled, still holding on to it.

"Hmmm," Jack mumbled, before pausing. "Is that a whiteboard there?" he asked, pointing to a nearby skip. They paused, walked over, and pulled it out. "There's even a pen; that works! Let's take it back."

"It's a long way back to my flat," Nick pointed out.

"It has wheels."

"It's still a long way back."

"We're drunk!"

"I'm… my paws are full," Haida said. "Or hurt."

…

"I'll push it myself!" Jack announced, standing beside it and pushing it along. Skye scooted up alongside him, chuckling as he pushed. "A-hem… Skye… I'm doing not-lazy exercise right now…" he said, the vixen burst into laughter. "Personal improvement. Onwards!"

And on they went, finding their way back, joking around a bit, before all slipping to bed. Eventually, Judy awoke, tired and groggy. She slipped in for a shower, washed herself down, dried herself, and then had a giant hyena walk in.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Hey, thanks Jack, I have a new whiteboard!" Nick cheered. "In fact… If I remember…" He turned it around and, pointing into one of the corners, they all sniggered.

' _Smellwether sucks.'_

"I think we can all agree to that," Nick said, paws on his hip. He was cut off though by a grumbling stomach, and looked to the others.

"Papy Mick's?"

"Papy Mick's," they all agreed, as they all got dressed and set out together. It was a decent trip around the city, but as they went they talked and laughed like old friends. Everything was good, everything was fun, Judy had even almost forgotten that she'd felt weird about Skye.

After all, they'd pieced together the night before, hadn't they?

They knew what had happened and that, bar some notable karaoke and a crime against love, they hadn't done anything that would come back and bite them.

But she hadn't quite forgotten it and, as they rattled on a train through the Rainforest District, variously recounting the many songs they'd been singing the night before, her eyes widened.

She remembered.

She remembered it all.

.

Not long later, at the restaurant, orders were being placed and noses sniffed the air. The big wolf owner personally brought out the largest helpings of his drink that he legally could, laying them out besides the waffles, pancakes, French toast and other sweet breakfast treats that they'd been savouring.

Judy held back, watching as everyone talked. Jack and Retsuko were going on about the merits of a death metal opera, the hare having decided that, with sufficient ear protection, such a thing might be tolerable. Haida was busy by himself, furiously tapping away at his phone, evidently unable to wait any length of time before confronting certain family members about certain things. Finally, there was Nick and Skye, looking at each other and talking quietly. By all means, with her ears, Judy should have been able to pick up each and every little thing that they'd been talking about. But her heart wasn't in it. Instead, she just kept on thinking back to what she'd remembered.

Finally, though, Skye got up to go to the bathroom. She held back a second or two, before asking if anyone could help her with the narrow steps down, Judy volunteering. She held open the side door for her, before the swift fox vixen noticed just how narrow and steep it was. Sighing, she sat down on the top step and began sliding herself down.

"Is it as fun as when you were a kit?" Judy asked, Skye huffing a little.

"I guess," she shrugged, her ears folding back as she did it. Regardless, the pouty vixen kept at it. "I think I remember doing this once."

"Well, as a kit," Judy noted, stepping down beside her. "You did it as an adult, too. Last night."

Skye froze on the step, her ears folding hard against her head as she moved it around to look at Judy. "So…" she said, the words hanging on her tongue. "You remember?"

…

"Yes. I remember," Judy said solemnly. "And so do you."

.

.

* * *

.

.

"Woah there…" Judy warned, noticing Retusko struggle with a set of steaming mugs. The hot chocolate had run out and, though it'd take forty or so fox sized mugs of the stuff for them to hit the LD50 mark, toxicity awareness was drilled into all species at a young age. It was drilled in again when mammals were older and getting to the stage where alcohol might be in the mix as well. So, out of habit they'd ordered a second and final round of it in the same, ordinary, mugs. Still, it seemed tough on poor Retsuko, who'd chosen to try and bring them all across. "Let me help you."

"Uh… It's okay," she said, but Judy was having none of it. She grabbed the massive mug Haida was having, as well as her own, making life much easier for her friend. She relaxed a bit, and couldn't help but smile. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she said, lifting up Haida's mug.

"You make it look so easy. Though I guess you do training."

"Yeah. Need lots of it to be in the ZPD."

"I just do yoga," she replied, as they began making their way back.

"You know," Judy said. "I was thinking about starting some of that. Maybe we could do it together."

"That would be great. You, me, Gori and Washimi…"

"I guess those are your friends."

"They're higher ups in the company," Retsuko explained. "One's a gorilla, the other a…"

"-Secretary bird?" Retsuko blinked as Judy's jaw hit the floor. "No way!"

"Huh?"

"Does it also have an instructor who shouts ' _PROTEIN'_ a lot," Judy said, doing her best impersonation.

"Yes!"

"I saw them in the park today," she giggled.

"Woah," Retsuko chuckled, before she realised she was getting dangerously close to spilling her drinks. Her eyes widening in alarm, she steadied them, before carrying on. "Anyway, thanks, but I'm used to carrying lots of drinks." She paused, noticing the foxes. "How do you think they'll take this being the last."

"Oh, Skye likely won't mind," Judy said. "Neither will Jack or I, given that we're just as susceptible so this is our last drink too. Nick, though, will probably do his hammiest acting while you and Haida keep on drinking… Lucky you."

Retsuko giggled. "To be fair, I don't know how toxic it is for Haida. Bigger mammals get a bigger mug I guess, but I don't know how many he can take. I know rodents like mice have a very high tolerance, I think pigs or goats do too." She paused, sniffing it in. "Just a shame the safe stuff doesn't taste as nice."

"Yup," Judy agreed, pausing as a large bear cut across the path.

"It's so nice meeting you," Retsuko said, turning to her and smiling.

"You too."

"And Nick, I was a bit worried, but he seems great fun."

Judy paused. "Why would you be worried?"

Retsuko shrugged. "Oh, it's just that when hanging out with Skye, she kept on talking about how he was when he was younger. She didn't like him them."

Judy blinked a few times, glancing up at the vixen and remembering, a scowl slowly appearing on her muzzle. "Just what kind of things was she saying?" she asked.

"Oh, just that he was melodramatic, blamed his faults on others, tried to drag others down and such. Probably just being a moody teenager at the time."

"Right," Judy said, not quite convinced.

"But she also said he seemed to have improved a lot, and she didn't say he was like this now. She said he probably changed, and I'm happy to see that's the case."

"Yeah," Judy agreed, her anger slowly abating. "It is."

"Yup. Lots of teen drama about a little event, but he got over it."

Judy froze again, the wheels in her mind beginning to turn, as frost grew over them. " _Little_ event?" she asked, glancing at the red panda.

"Skye said he kicked up a load of fuss about nobody ever trusting foxes after one bad incident, or something…"

Judy didn't speak back. Retsuko didn't want to ask why, as she could see the mugs in the bunny's paw beginning to shake. The cop shot a furious scowl at Skye, and almost growled out the next words. "That wasn't just a _little_ event. It's not my place to tell you w _hat_ it was, other than that it was truly horrible, and if Skye thinks she can downplay it while spreading filthy rumours about _my_ boyfriend, _then she has another thing coming…"_

"Huuuhhhhh…. Oh no, please don't fight… Please don't fight…."

"We're going to have a little _chat_ in private," she hissed, looking at the vixen. "If we fight or not is up to her."

Retsuko gulped, but carried on as Judy marched forwards, placing the drinks down. Thanks was given, but she ignored it, glaring at her. How dare she. How dare she talk about _her_ fox behind his back. How dare she downplay the most horrible episode in his life. How dare she make things even harder for him, when he most certainly had it hard enough.

Fortunately, she was getting out to use the bathroom. Nick warned her that the stairs were narrow and steep and, taking a breath in, she asked for some help. Before anyone could answer, Judy said that she also needed the toilet, and it made sense for a girl to help her.

She waited until Skye was slipping down the first few steps before she opened her mouth.

"Retsuko said something," she said, her voice harsh and stern. Pausing as she went, Skye looked up at her.

"Huh?"

"About things you've been telling her about Nick," she said again. "Bad things, about Nick, behind everyone's back."

The vixen paused, not quite sure what to say. "I… -When she asked about him, I said that he seemed to have changed, but when I knew him…"

"Yeah," Judy cut off. "When you 'knew him'." She crossed her arms, her nose twitching furiously. "But you were still talking to them and telling them bad things about _my_ fox. _Lies_ about _my_ fox!"

"-Lies? I wasn't…"

"Don't you start," Judy hissed, marching right up next to her. "He has suffered his entire life from mammals judging him. Misjudging him. Spreading lies and rumours about him and making his life worse just because he was born as a fox, and you…"

"-And I wasn't born as a fox!?" Skye cut in, her brow furrowing. "I don't think you've noticed, but I'm the other fox here. Maybe not a red one, so maybe not quite as big of a target, but I don't think that the kind of people who hate on foxes are that discerning. Anyway, I was there when he was younger, you were not." She shot a finger into Judy's chest. "So, when talking about 'fox' stuff, I think I get to do that. And, when it comes to what Nick w _as_ like, I was there. I was there to know it as the utter B-S it was."

"Well maybe you should have been there to try and help him!" Judy scolded.

"I DID!" she screamed back, the bunny flinching slightly. Skye shook her head and pinched the bridge of her muzzle, breathing out. "I met him, I talked to him, I listened time after time to him saying that nothing mattered. I tried to point out that I was doing well, that I had a future, and that if he bothered to give a damn he could too. But no. Nothing I did could get through that thick skull of his, so I cut my losses and gave up on him. Because I was not going to let myself be dragged down by a lost cause…"

"-He is not a lost cause. You were out there with him just then and you could quite clearly see that."

"…Yes, it seems that you had a trick up your sleeve that I hadn't," Skye admitted. "So, what, am I a bad mammal because I didn't figure out the right formula?"

"You're a bad mammal because you slandered him behind his back to your friends, even when they just wanted to meet him! You poisoned the well even after he'd changed!"

"And I said he likely had changed," she defended. "But I didn't know for sure…"

"Maybe you should have kept your muzzle shut."

"And let Haida and Retsuko, who were idolising him, get let down and burned if it was still the old Nick?"

"Who's to say that 'old Nick' would have been let down and burned them. What's wrong with old Nick?"

Skye's brow furrowed. "What's wrong with a self-hating hypocrite who tries to drag down anyone around him?"

"Or," Judy pressed, "what's wrong with a disillusioned mammal who was traumatised when young due to the bullying he received because of his species? You were a fox, surely you knew what it was like to be bullied because of it?"

Skye paused, thinking for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Yes, I was picked on a few times because I was a fox. I've had jerks refuse me service or walk away because of it. But do you know what else they bullied me for? I got teased after they found out I was adopted. They teased me because my mother was a different species. They teased my sister and I because _we_ were a different species. I was snubbed by some other girls as I was interested in mechanics and not boring girly stuff. Jerks found things to tease me about and pick me on because guess what? Jerks exist. Bullies exist. And they will find something and they will pick you on it, because that's what they do." She paused, taking a breath in before carrying on.

"Do you know what I thought? Screw them! I worked hard, I got good grades, yes I missed on some opportunities because of some jerks but so do others. We're in a city with over a thousand species and I'm pretty sure that every one of those has at least one grudge against another. My father was a well respected teacher, mammals trusted us. But do you know why they didn't trust Nick? Because he hung about at the back of the class, because he stayed with the troublemaker crowd, because he'd smuggle in food and snacks to sell up at a mark-up. He'd keep old test papers and marked sheets from one year and sell the answers to those repeating it. All this time, he kept on telling me that it was no use being respectable. Just 'give the masses what they want' and 'play the role society casts you as'. But he was such a hypocrite, becoming the exact thing he didn't want to be seen as…"

"He felt like he had no choice…"

"He already had a choice and he made it," Skye justified. "Heck, if Nick really thought he couldn't do it in Zootopia, he could just move out. As long as you avoid a few certain towns, most places in The States are fine with foxes; it was about that time that the entire Mesa City mob were disbanded by a hotshot vixen inspector sent by interpol. He just ignored that when I pointed it out, claiming it was just a token hire, as he didn't want to change. Did you know that he used to have a host of friends before he went off the rails? Different mammals and different species. I think there was a porcupine girl who talked about how he put on a magic show for her birthday, and another kid who talked about how he traded up some little bit of junk, going up and up until he got his mother concert tickets. He had friends, he had mammals who trusted him, and he was smart… -And he threw that all away after some dumb event, and then tried to drag me down with him. I decided that I wanted to have nothing to do with that toxic personality. And then he saves the city, and yes, I can get the idea that he's changed. But I don't know, so when I have some new friends who idolise him, is it a bad thing that I want to at least prepare them for the worst case?"

…

"Skye," Judy said. "Do you even know what that event was?"

"It… Some bullying, or…"

"He tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts when he was eight," she said. "It was his biggest dream and, right after he swore to be trustworthy, they asked 'even though you're a fox?' They then held him down and forced a police muzzle on him."

Skye paused, blinking, her ears going down. "That's horrible," she admitted. "But he kept this up for years…"

"He was mute for a few," she cut in. "I actually saw the records, it traumatised him so badly it took a year or two of therapy to find his voice again."

Skye flinched back further. "It… It really hit him that bad, but it was just…"

"Maybe you think you could weather it," Judy said, sighing. She suddenly felt a bit exhausted. "Maybe you could have, easily. But he couldn't. Don't resent him for that, you hear?"

"I hear… I wouldn't," she admitted, looking up again. "I never knew it was that bad. I mean, I think I could take it, but he couldn't. I don't resent him for that; being a mechanic I know that you can hit even the strongest materials weakly in the right place and they can just snap. But back then I just knew him as a bad mammal. Whenever I was talking to him back then, that's all I knew… -I always told Retsuko and Haida that he likely had changed. I just wanted to protect my friends…"

"And I don't want you hurting my Nick," Judy said. "He's been hurt enough already."

"Okay, I… -what do you want me to do?"

"Huh…"

Skye looked up at her. "What's done is done. What do you want me to do to make it right?"

…

"Or don't you know, and you just wanted to…"

"-Apologise," Judy cut in. "For a start."

"For what exactly? The speaking behind his back, or everything?"

Judy held back a second or two, not quite sure what to say, before answering, a smile on her face. "You know what, you already apologised on your own for a lot of stuff at the baby shower. How about you find Nick, tell him in private what you did, and say you're sorry. Say you're sorry for colouring Haida and Retsuko's views before they met you. Say sorry for saying that without knowing the truth. Does that sound fair…"

…

"Yes," Skye agreed. "It does."

"Okay then," Judy said. She was still a bit worked up, still had a slight trepidation but, hopefully, things would all even out. So, she helped Skye down and then up again, and the pair returned just as a crime against romance had been committed.

.

.

* * *

.

.

"I'm sorry…"

"No worries, Skye," Judy said, as she helped the swift fox vixen down. She was quiet, mulling over her words as she went, before speaking. "If anything, I feel that I have to say sorry too. I just heard those things and I felt so angry. I always had the feeling that Nick had a hard life, and I felt that you, someone who should empathise, had no right going behind and making it worse… I just don't want anyone judging him badly, not after what he's been through."

"I… I get that now," Skye said. "As I said back then, I was going off my own experiences. I just wanted to protect my new friends…"

…

"I forgive you."

"I forgive you too."

Judy nodded. "It'll be nice to have you as a friend, even if we got to a rough start. Then again, real life is messy."

"Tchhh, you can say that again."

Judy nodded, before pausing and thinking. "Say, how did the apology go? Do you even remember it?"

A little grin grew across Skye's muzzle. "What do you think we were just talking about, fox to fox?"

Judy smiled, walking up and hugging the swift fox. Skye hugged back, and they made their way down. Business done, Judy helped Skye back up the steps, slowly but surely.

"Hopefully the chocolates aren't cold right now," Judy said, smiling.

"We might find that it's _just_ right," Skye countered, as they walked back over.

Judy nodded. Just right. That's how everything felt. She had friends, things were peaceful, and she was smiling as she turned the corner. Everything was gonna be alright.

And then the smile vanished.

"-Listen!" Nick shouted into his phone, his fur on end and a scared, haggard look on his face. "I know him! He's good… -This… -He'd never…"

There was a pause as someone else spoke, and Judy couldn't help but notice the scared and confused looks on her friends around her. She looked back at Nick, suddenly scared for what this news might be.

"Okay…" he said quietly, before looking up. "We'll be there."

"Nick?"

"Some… -something's happened," he said, gulping. "We need to get to the station – _right now_."

.

* * *

.

.

**Author's Note:**

> .
> 
> .
> 
> .
> 
> .
> 
> AN: I wrote this a long time ago, when I could innocently muse the topic of how native american civilizations comprised of multiple mammal species would be far less vulnerable to old world disease epidemics than in our world, and the implications thereof on the colonisation and history of the new world nations. As fate would have it, this chapter would be published many months later in the midst of a global viral epidemic… (Hashtag crazy coincidences.)
> 
> In this universe, the Incan empire survived in a reduced state, similar to Abyssinia/Ethiopia, Persia/Iran and Siam/Thailand. It being called the Reino del Sol and being ruled by The Supai Dynasty is a reference to 6wingdragon's Neverwere Moments series.
> 
> Alternate history itch-scratching aside, this fic was a joy to write and I hope it was a joy to read. I won't elaborate on the cliffhanger, other than to say that I'll be taking a short hiatus. I planned to get this chapter out before I started the ski holiday I would now be on, resuming when I got home. I might restart after a fortnight, or I might try to write ahead before resuming. The latest I'll restart will be May the 1st. Zoostars will carry on updating in that time.
> 
> The finale is going to be full length and… Something, to say the least… I've reached 14 chapters already and passed 77,000 words, and most is still left to come. See you then. Like, subscribe (if on A03 to the FFoZ series, not this individual fic/ episode. If of fanfic, subscribing to this fic (aka the whole series) is fine.)
> 
> Please review if you can, they are deeply appreciated and make my day.
> 
> Stay safe, stay awesome, see you all soon.
> 
> Music list:  
> Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdNnw99-Ic
> 
> Ski Sunday Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQJsTsJrIqw
> 
> We Are The Champions (Queen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY
> 
> Three Little Birds (Bob Marley): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGUr6wzyT8
> 
> Shot At The Night (The Killers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4YK-DEkvcw
> 
> Human (The Killers): https://youtu.be/RIZdjT1472Y
> 
> Mr Brightside (The Killers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE
> 
> (Note, around the time I was writing this chapter I was putting on The Killers’ 2019 Glastonbury Concert on in the background. First time I’d heard Shot At The Night, and a very fun listen.)  
> The Aggretsuko Death Metal Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jgTalLp1Lk
> 
> Fox On The Run (Sweet): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP2umy6TdEU
> 
> You Sexy Thing/ I Believe in Miracles (Hot Chocolate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOl4oeHZnBk
> 
> Got My Mind Set On You (George Harrison): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_71w4UA2Oxo
> 
> I Love Rock ‘N Roll (Made famous by Joan Jett, though originally by Alan Merill, who recently died from Corona Virus (RIP)): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9jhDwxt22Y
> 
> We Will Rock You (Queen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk


End file.
